It depends on the dog. Like people, there is a large range of intelligence among our canine friends. My current (favorite) dog is straight retarded. He comes to work with me every day. God love him, he's extremely sweet and good natured, and is about as smart as a bag of rocks. No riding a subway for that one. My other dog, a whippet, is much smarter than him, but that's not hard. She's sweet though, and does what she's told, and that's all that matters to me.
My old dog, a lab/ whippet mix, was one of the smartest animals I've ever seen. She could recognize different toys, and fetch the correct one by verbal command. You could tell her to go lay down on a specific piece of furniture, and she'd do it. She could do several tricks, and could run and catch a frisbee in the air every time- sometimes doing flips in the process. She was awesome. If she got bored, she would play fetch with herself. She would carry a ball to the top of the stairs, let it fall down the stairs, then chase it, and bring it up the stairs again, over and over. She could open doors by biting the knob and turning it. Open drawers by grabbing the knob with her teeth and pulling. I miss that dog.
